Game 33: (A-10 Tournament, Brooklyn, NY), St. Bonaventure, Friday, March 15th, 2:30 PM, NBCSN

[Washingtonian]

Oh yeah are they doing that new arena in Anacostia?

Yes.

 

[jessej]

Oh yeah are they doing that new arena in Anacostia?

It is a very nice facility
small but every seat in the house offers great sight lines
way over budget and charged to the citizens of Washington, DC
glad it is not coming out of my taxes

CAA Tournament will be held there next year
and I believe the DC Public League High School Championships were or are moving there.

 

[tarvis614]

will play devils advocate on point #2 - mcmahons was the bar for bonny, st joes, vcu, etc. at different points. seemed to be the only sports bar other than buffalo wild wings & applebees remotely close to barclays. st louis even had a 2 story inflatable billiken posted outside on thursday night. side note - can we start a giving day fund for giant inflatable patriot or gunston or mason maniac?

brooklyn just isn't a great place to hold something like this logistically. hotels & sports bars aren't real close, expensive, etc. doesn't excuse the apathy b/c other fan bases definitely showed up, but it is what is is as they say. pittsburgh probably by far my favorite tourny location so far (dc doesn't really count).

Some observations from the A-10 Tourney this year.

1. I think our fan base that showed up to Brooklyn has been the lowest in attendance in probably 20 years. And probably the most quiet I've ever witnessed in our CAA and past A-10 tourneys. St. Bonny is 6 hours away and probably had the 2nd largest fan base there.

2. Our "Mason Nation HQ Bar/restaurant" was actually St. Bonaventure's bar and they outnumbered us probably 10 to 1 . Not even joking. They rented out the 2nd floor of the bar. One of the St. Bonnie fans I talked with at the bar jokingly said what are we doing here and did you all know this has been our bar for the past 2 years!? I said our Patriot Club people were 6 tables over and to go tell them that. He laughed. But it was pretty embarrassing. Apparently apathy and not caring about providing a solid GMU experience has hit our Patriot Club team. I mean how in the F do you not confirm with a restaurant/bar that no other school has that bar? Fail. Tired of these people not caring. Especially when one of the GMU staffers is an alumni of St. Bonny.

 

[GMUgemini]

will play devils advocate on point #2 - mcmahons was the bar for bonny, st joes, vcu, etc. at different points. seemed to be the only sports bar other than buffalo wild wings & applebees remotely close to barclays. st louis even had a 2 story inflatable billiken posted outside on thursday night. side note - can we start a giving day fund for giant inflatable patriot or gunston or mason maniac?

brooklyn just isn't a great place to hold something like this logistically. hotels & sports bars aren't real close, expensive, etc. doesn't excuse the apathy b/c other fan bases definitely showed up, but it is what is is as they say. pittsburgh probably by far my favorite tourny location so far (dc doesn't really count).

Would love a throwback Atlantic City tournament. I think I’d have to find a way to carve out some time to go to that one.

I know Atlantic City is a dump now, but that’s exactly why I’d want to go.

 

[EXpatriot13]

Would love a throwback Atlantic City tournament. I think I’d have to find a way to carve out some time to go to that one.

I know Atlantic City is a dump now, but that’s exactly why I’d want to go.

Atlantic City is no doubt a dump. Yet any of the decent hotels still charge $250, $300+ per night. Borderline criminal.

 

[GMUgemini]

Atlantic City is no doubt a dump. Yet any of the decent hotels still charge $250, $300+ per night. Borderline criminal.

We should come to Phoenix then! You can get a 4 star hotel for like 150-200 a night here. Also a ton of stuff around Talking Stick Arena (including the diviest, best Sonoran food on this side of the border).

 

[GSII]

Have heard many say they wont go to Brooklyn bc of how difficult it is to get around.

 

[Wefo27]

Costs most likely. Transportation, food costs, and hotel rooms add up! Especially in NYC. Probably only took the bare minimum.

The A10 rules only let bands bring 29 band members to ‘play’. Doc took extra kids as a cheering squad and maybe to sneak in an extra instrument or two. A10 rules limit their numbers.


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[GMUgemini]

Have heard many say they wont go to Brooklyn bc of how difficult it is to get around.

I know the A10 likes NYC because it has the highest concentration of A10 alumni living in that metro area, but maybe the costs associated with traveling to Brooklyn and getting around maybe convinces them that Brooklyn isn't the way to go in the future? I wonder about Philly as a potential host site to add into the rotation? Would that privilege the Philly schools to0 much?

 

[JPgmuswim]

I’m probably just considered a bad fan. I fully planned on heading to Brooklyn for the tournament. At the start of the season my expectations were high, I had us as the 3rd best team and figured we’d have the double bye in the tournament and be right there fighting for a shot at the championship. Thanks to ESPN+ I was able to watch all but about 2 games this season.
There was a point somewhere in mid February that I decided that we would not be advancing too far in the tournament and it probably wasn’t worth spending all that money and taking off work for. I took off work early and watched both of our games and believe that I made the right choice to skip it. I look forward to future season when I feel more comfortable with our chances of taking it, we just aren’t there yet.

At least Paulsen has got us out of the play-in games. Progress.

 

[The Great PATSby]

Would that privilege the Philly schools to0 much?

Not any different than the A10 tourny being in DC for GW or even us. I think Philly is a great idea. Although public transportation there is worse than NY and DC.

 

[GMUgemini]

Not any different than the A10 tourny being in DC for GW or even us. I think Philly is a great idea. Although public transportation there is worse than NY and DC.

I haven’t been to their arena but had a friend who used to work at UPenn and would visit sometimes. It was a bit of a pain to get there. It’s almost like they designed their subway system to NOT lead to anything useful.

 

[GSII]

The A10 rules only let bands bring 29 band members to ‘play’. Doc took extra kids as a cheering squad and maybe to sneak in an extra instrument or two. A10 rules limit their numbers.


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Was same at ACC tourney too. But difference is ACC sells the seats. Why not let more band members come if seats are gonna sit empty?

 

[Five Two]

The A10 used to use the Palestra for their tournament before they tried the Atlantic City experiment.

 

[Falco]

I know the A10 likes NYC because it has the highest concentration of A10 alumni living in that metro area, but maybe the costs associated with traveling to Brooklyn and getting around maybe convinces them that Brooklyn isn't the way to go in the future? I wonder about Philly as a potential host site to add into the rotation? Would that privilege the Philly schools to0 much?

I obviously want anything in the DMV area. But NJ has a couple arenas relatively close to NY. So I would imagine NY alumni could still make the trip. In addition, it might be easier for the rest of the conference.

I am pretty sure the Prudential Center is where Mason played in the 2011 ncaa tourny. Not positive though.

 

[Washingtonian]

I obviously want anything in the DMV area. But NJ has a couple arenas relatively close to NY. So I would imagine NY alumni could still make the trip. In addition, it might be easier for the rest of the conference.

I am pretty sure the Prudential Center is where Mason played in the 2011 ncaa tourny. Not positive though.

Try Cleveland:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NCAA_Division_I_Men's_Basketball_Tournament

 

[EXpatriot13]

Try Cleveland:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NCAA_Division_I_Men's_Basketball_Tournament

Would have to kick the MAC out. They've been hosting their tournament there for years.

 

[Washingtonian]

Would have to kick the MAC out. They've been hosting their tournament there for years.

Right, I was correcting DJ3 with a location of where the 2011 NCAA 1st/2nd rounds was played.

 

[GMUgemini]

Right, I was correcting DJ3 with a location of where the 2011 NCAA 1st/2nd rounds was played.

Right. We had to play Ohio State in Ohio. And then Luke mysteriously got food poisoning the night before the game.

 

[mkaufman1]

Right. We had to play Ohio State in Ohio. And then Luke mysteriously got food poisoning the night before the game.

Mysterious is an understatement, we can leave it at that.